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Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains

Styring, Amy K.; Vaiglova, Petra; Bogaard, Amy; Church, Mike; Gröcke, Darren R.; Larsson, Mikael; Liu, Xinyi; Stroud, Elizabeth; Szpak, Paul; Wallace, Michael P.

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Authors

Amy K. Styring

Petra Vaiglova

Amy Bogaard

Mikael Larsson

Xinyi Liu

Elizabeth Stroud

Paul Szpak

Michael P. Wallace



Abstract

Stable isotope analysis of plant remains recovered from archaeological sites is becoming more routine. There remains a lack of consensus, however, on how to appropriately select archaeological plant remains for isotopic analysis, how to account for differences in preservation and the effect of potential contamination, and how to interpret the measured isotope values in terms of the conditions in which the plants grew. In this paper, we outline the main issues to be considered when planning and conducting an isotopic study of archaeobotanical remains. These include: (1) setting out the research question(s) that will be answerable using available analytical approaches, (2) considering the archaeological context from which plant remains derive, (3) determining appropriate sample size through consideration of estimate precision, (4) establishing the conditions in which plant remains have been preserved and potential effects on their isotope values, and (5) accounting for possible contamination during deposition. With these issues in mind, we propose some recommendations for researchers to consider when planning and conducting an isotopic study of archaeobotanical remains.

Citation

Styring, A. K., Vaiglova, P., Bogaard, A., Church, M., Gröcke, D. R., Larsson, M., Liu, X., Stroud, E., Szpak, P., & Wallace, M. P. (in press). Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 3, Article 1470375. https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2024.1470375

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 4, 2024
Deposit Date Oct 8, 2024
Publicly Available Date Oct 30, 2024
Journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology
Electronic ISSN 2813-432X
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 3
Article Number 1470375
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2024.1470375
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2950292

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